Travel in 2010: The year of air travel disruption

Now that we’re all firmly grounded in 2011 we can look back at 2010 and reminisce about everything that happened over the 12 months. In the world of travel it seems that one word really sums it all up – disruption. The start of 2010 was met with a lot of snow storms across Ireland, the UK and other parts of Europe leading to a lot of travel chaos for many. This was to repeat itself all over again before 2010 made its way out as December brought more snow and ice and left a lot of travellers stranded all over the world during the festive season.

Just four months in to 2010 and we found ourselves using two words we probably had rarely uttered before – ash cloud! Iceland was at the centre of news and travel disruption in April as its Eyjafjallajökull volcano (the one we couldn’t pronounce!) started to spew its ash into the North Atlantic and caused some severe disruption to European airspace. Travellers trying to get in, out and across Europe were grounded for days as the ash cloud brought air travel to a halt. In fact, not since World War II was air travel so disrupted.

While they may only be in testing phases in certain airports in Europe, USA’s TSA (Transportation Security Administration) implemented the new millimetre wave scanner devices, or body scanners as everyone else called them. This brought about the phrase “Don’t touch my junk” as many travellers opted out of these scanners as they felt them too invasive and had to undergo a pat-down by security officials instead.

And what is a year in airline travel without a few strikes thrown in? American Airlines and British Airways were at it, as too were traffic controllers in France, Greece and Spain. However, most of these strikes were planned and resolved fast!

So, looking back on the year in airline travel of 2010, will you be booking a ferry, train or hiring a car for trips in 2011 instead? Let us know what you think!